AN ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY FRANCOPHILE - Lot 273

AN ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY FRANCOPHILE OFFICER OF THE WALLOON GUARDS VAN WERDE (Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel). Autograph manuscript. 1791-1839. 37 ff. in an in-4 paperback notebook, folioed 1 to 41 (ff. 2 and 3 missing, ff. 38 and 39 blank); the first 3 leaves detached and a little frayed, the first moreover with freckling and wetness. Son of a Belgian baron and alderman of Brussels, Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel Van Werde (1767-1840) enlisted in 1791 as a cadet in the Walloon Guard regiment serving the King of Spain, under Colonel Pablo Sangro Mérode, Prince of Castelfranco, a close associate of Secretary of State Manuel Godoy. THE ROUSSILLON WAR: this diary includes a section on the author's military activities, in particular his participation in the fighting between Perpignan and Figueras, between the army of the Kingdom of Spain and French revolutionary troops, from May 1793 to November 1794 (pp. 12-16). Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel Van Werde became ensign of the grenadiers in November 1793, and was then given command of a company at an early age. He makes no secret of the horrors of war, painting a bleak picture of an abandoned French military hospital and its wounded at Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines. Once peace had been signed with France, his military career seemed more chaotic: promoted to battalion commander in August 1795, he was put in charge of 2 battalions in January 1797, appointed lieutenant and commander of the Montjuïc fort near Barcelona in June 1798, then sent to Majorca, where he was made sub-aide-major in June 1799. From July 1799 to March 1800, the present diary records a picaresque episode: Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel returned to the mainland and mentions several women's names, before indicating that he was arrested and sent back to Majorca. He then moved to Spain, from March to October 1801, before arriving in Madrid. He then requested a year's leave (during which he was promoted to first lieutenant in March 1803), went to Paris, where he met the Duc d'Arenberg or General Belliard, agreed to remain French (the Belgian territories having been annexed during his stay in Spain), and was offered a place in the Garde des Consuls, but retired from the army at the end of his leave in June 1803. The other part of the diary gives details of his private travels, his social life with Belgian and French personalities and his pleasures, including evenings out at theaters and the Opéra: it describes his journey to Spain in August 1791, via Paris, Lyon, Avignon and Perpignan to Barcelona; then his first leave of absence from November 1795 to October 1796, spent in Belgium and France in Lyon, Paris and Toulouse; then his second leave of absence from June 1802 to June 1803, spent in Paris, as mentioned above. The next long period of this diary runs from June 1805 to May 1820, then from March 1836 to August 1839, and includes numerous trips to Belgium, France and Holland. Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel Van Werde recalls a dinner at the home of the Dowager Duchess of Arenberg, stays at the Château de Belœil with the Prince de Ligne, his meeting with Marie-Louise at Laeken in October 1811, and his visit to the Waterloo battlefield on May 27, 1815, with the Duc de Beaufort, a few days after the events. It should be noted that for trips recorded between 1836 and 1839, the train is often mentioned as the means of transport. Provenance: former Émile Brouwet collection.